Eduardo Paniagua's early music group Ensemble Música Antigua, with the support of Spanish Cultural Action (AC/E), represented Spain at the 4th Cairo Sufi Festival with three concerts. The importance of the performances lay in the inclusion of medieval mystical Spanish canticles, both Christian and Moslem, from the golden era of Al-Andalus.
The festival was held at the El Gouri Cultural Centre between 15 and 25 August, and featured performers from countries including Morocco, Turkey, Sudan, Senegal, Algeria and Azerbaijan.
Under the title of Sufis of Al-Andalus and Mozarabic Canticles, the group Ensemble Música Antigua performed four different concerts as a trio: César Carazo (voice and viola), Jaime Muñoz (kaval and bagpipes) and Eduardo Paniagua (conductor, quanun-psaltery, flutes and choir). The ensemble performed the music with which the tariqa brotherhoods of the Maghreb maintain the heritage of Sufi rites and ceremonies passed down from Al-Andalus. They also perform Spanish Mozarabic religious canticles from the 10th and 11th centuries.
Eduardo Paniagua, winner of the Academia de la Música de España award as Best Classical Music Performer, was invited by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture thanks to his status as a unique specialist in this medieval Mediterranean music.